Enhancement of range and throughput for multi-antenna wireless communications devices

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and devices select antennas to enhance the range and throughput of wireless communications devices. Methods include identifying a plurality of combinations of antennas based on a plurality of available antennas for a wireless communications device, and generating, using a processing device included in a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) device, a plurality of quality metrics including at least one quality metric for each of the identified combinations of antennas, where each of the at least one quality metrics represents a signal quality of a signal associated with each of the plurality of antennas, and wherein the signal is a spatial stream. Methods further include selecting at least two antennas from the plurality of combinations of antennas based, at least in part, on the plurality of quality metrics, where the at least two antennas are selected for use by the wireless communications device during a transmitting or receiving operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/886,527, filed May 28, 2020, which claims thebenefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/854,515, filed on May 30, 2019, all of which are incorporatedherein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to wireless communications deviceshaving multiple antennas, and more specifically, to enhancing the rangeand throughput of such wireless communications devices.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications devices may communicate with each other via oneor more communications modalities, such as a WiFi connection.Accordingly, such wireless communication may be implemented in a mannercompliant with a wireless communication protocol. Moreover, suchwireless communications devices may include various hardware componentsto facilitate such communication. For example, wireless communicationsdevices may include transmission media that may include one or moreantennas. Conventional techniques for utilizing such antennas in awireless communication device remain limited because they are not ableto efficiently select and utilize such antennas for increasedthroughput.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for enhancement of range andthroughput of wireless communications devices, configured in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of an additional example of a system forenhancement of range and throughput of wireless communications devices,configured in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of another example of a system forenhancement of range and throughput of wireless communications devices,configured in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of yet another example of a system forenhancement of range and throughput of wireless communications devices,configured in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of an example of a portion of a radiofrequency (RF) chain of a wireless communications device, configured inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of an example of an antenna pairingmethod, implemented in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of another example of an antenna pairingmethod, implemented in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of an example of a quality metricgeneration method, implemented in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the presented concepts. Thepresented concepts may be practiced without some or all of thesespecific details. In other instances, well known process operations havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure thedescribed concepts. While some concepts will be described in conjunctionwith the specific examples, it will be understood that these examplesare not intended to be limiting.

Wireless communications devices may be implemented in a variety ofcontexts and environments. For example, wireless communications devicesmay be implemented in computing devices, mobile devices, and othercomputing environments. In one example, wireless communications devicesmay be implemented in vehicles to provide communication betweencomponents of the vehicle, such as an on-board computer, and othercomputing devices, such as a mobile device, a cellular network, oranother communications network. The wireless communications devices mayinclude transceivers that handle transmit and receive operations inaccordance with wireless communications protocols. The transceivers maybe coupled to antennas which may facilitate transmission and receptionof data over a transmission medium. During operation, pairs of antennasmay be selected and utilized to handle the transmission and reception ofdata streams.

More specifically, devices may utilize spatial multiplexing tosimultaneously leverage multiple transmit and receive antennas to sendand receive multiple data streams in parallel. Accordingly, a datapacket can be sent via the multiple data streams and be recovered at thereceived device. However, mismatches in antennas used for the receivingand transmitting may result in degradation of the quality ofcommunications links, and degrade the overall performance of thewireless communications device. More specifically, if aspects ofantennas, such as receive antennas used in parallel data streams, aremismatched, then the overall range and throughput of the device isreduced. In one specific example, mismatches or variations in a receivesignal strength indicator (RSSI) value may result in a significantreduction in the overall sensitivity of the communications link.Accordingly, if an incorrect pair of antennas is selected, a wirelesscommunications device will experience losses in performance.

Embodiments disclosed herein provide methods, devices, and systems forenhancing the throughput and range of wireless communications devices byidentifying and selecting correct antennas in multi-data streamcontexts. As will be discussed in greater detail below, various qualitymetrics may be generated for different combinations of transmit andreceive antennas. The quality metrics may be used to identify and selecta configuration of antennas, such as a pair of receive antennas, thatwill yield the best results in performance. In this way, multi-streamdevices are configured to dynamically implement antenna selections thatenhance performance of the devices by increasing communications linksensitivity, and improve overall range and throughput of the devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for enhancement of range andthroughput of wireless communications devices, configured in accordancewith some embodiments. As discussed above, various wirelesscommunications devices may communicate with each other via one or morewireless communications media. For example, wireless communicationsdevices may communicate with each other via a WiFi connection or aBluetooth connection. As will be discussed in greater detail below,wireless communications devices disclosed herein and systems, such assystem 100, that implement such wireless communications devices areconfigured to utilize multiple antennas to handle the transmission andreception of multiple data streams. Accordingly, embodiments disclosedherein enable the selection and utilization of antennas for bothtransmission and reception of the data streams such that the range andthroughput of devices is enhanced.

In various embodiments, system 100 may include first devices 110 whichmay be wireless communications devices. As discussed above, suchwireless communications devices may be compatible with one or morewireless transmission protocols, such as a WiFi protocol or a Bluetoothprotocol. In some embodiments, first devices 110 are multiple inputmultiple output (MIMO) devices capable of transmitting and receivingmultiple data streams. As will be discussed in greater detail below,data that is to be transmitted may be spatially multiplexed intomultiple data streams that may be transmitted and received in paralleland simultaneously using different transmit-receive paths. Moreover,first devices 110 may be capable of utilizing multiple frequency bandsfor data transmission and reception. Accordingly, first devices 110 maybe real simultaneous dual band (RSDB) devices that are capable oftransmitting and receiving signals on at least two frequency bandssimultaneously. Thus, first devices 110 as well as other devicesdescribed in greater detail below may include wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) processing devices or controllers that operate as firstand second signal sources to transmit and receive signals on first andsecond frequency bands. In various embodiments, wireless communicationsdevices disclosed herein may be smart devices, such as those found inwearable devices, or may be monitoring devices, such as those found insmart buildings, environmental monitoring, and energy management. Itwill be appreciated that such wireless communications devices may be anysuitable device, such as those found in cars, other vehicles, and evenmedical implants. In some embodiments, the wireless communicationsdevices may be wireless headsets.

As shown in FIG. 1 , various wireless communications devices may be incommunication with each other via one or more wireless communicationsmediums. For example, first devices 110 may each include multipleantennas, such as antenna 104. First devices 110 may also includeprocessing devices and transceivers. As will be discussed in greaterdetail below, such processing devices, transceivers, and associatedradios may be configured to establish communications connections withother devices, and transmit data in the form of data packets via suchcommunications connections. More specifically, different components offirst devices 110, such as a processing device, may be configured toimplement antenna selection for enhancement of range and throughput offirst devices 110.

In some embodiments, system 100 may further include second devices 120which may also be wireless communications devices. As similarlydiscussed above, second devices 120 may be compatible with one or morewireless transmission protocols, such as a WiFi protocol or a Bluetoothprotocol. Moreover, second devices 120 may also be smart devices orother devices, such as those found in cars, other vehicles, and medicalimplants. In various embodiments, second devices 120 may be differenttypes of devices than first devices 110. As discussed above, each ofsecond devices 120 may include an antenna, such as antenna 122, as wellas processing devices and transceivers, which may also be configured toestablish communications connections with other devices, and transmitdata in the form of data packets via such communications connections. Asdiscussed above, second devices 120 may also be configured to implementantenna selection operations for enhanced range and throughput.

In various embodiments, system 100 further includes third devices 124,fourth devices 126, fifth devices 128, and sixth devices 130. Moreover,the devices may each have a plurality of antennas, such as antenna 132,antenna 134, antenna 136, and antenna 138. In various embodiments, firstdevices 110 may be configured as a first access point, and fourthdevices 126 may be configured as a second access point. In this way, anaccess point, such as the first access point, is configured to managecommunications between devices, such as second devices 120 and thirddevices 124, and a communications network, such as network 140.Accordingly, many wireless communications devices may be incommunication with each other over a widely implemented communicationsnetwork, such as the internet.

As shown in FIG. 1 , system 100 may include multiple access points thatare coupled with multiple different groups of devices. In this way,various devices may communicate with each other via network 140, andsuch communication may be managed and scheduled by access points. Insome embodiments, the access points may pass along communications andrequests between each other to facilitate the scheduling of networktraffic across numerous different devices. For example, a first accesspoint may schedule requests from second devices 120, third devices 124,fifth devices 128, and sixth devices 130 where requests and traffic fromsecond devices 120 and third devices 124 are passed along through thefirst access point included in first devices 110.

FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of an additional example of a system forenhancement of range and throughput of wireless communications devices,configured in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIG.2 illustrates an example of a system, such as system 200, that mayinclude wireless communications device 202. It will be appreciated thatwireless communications device 202 may be one of any of first devices110, second devices 120, third devices 124, fourth devices 126, fifthdevices 128, or sixth devices 130 discussed above. As will be discussedin greater detail below, system 200 provides an example of what may bereferred to as a 2×2+2×2 device that includes that includes two 2×2devices each capable of utilizing two data streams.

In various embodiments, wireless communications device 202 includes oneor more transceivers, such as transceiver 206 and transceiver 208. Forexample, system 200 includes transceiver 206 which is configured totransmit and receive signals using a communications medium that mayinclude an antenna, such as antenna 221, antenna 230, antenna 232, orantenna 234. As noted above, transceiver 206 may be included in a WiFiradio, and may be compatible with a WiFi communications protocol, suchas an 802.11ax protocol. Accordingly, transceiver 206 may includecomponents, such as a modulator and demodulator as well as one or morebuffers and filters, that are configured to generate and receive signalsvia antenna 221. Such components may be included in radio frequency (RF)transmit and receive paths, also referred to herein as RF chains,represented as RF 250 and RF 252, and discussed in greater detail belowwith reference to FIG. 5 . Wireless communications device 202 may alsoinclude transceiver 208 which may include RF 254 and RF 256 and also becommunicatively coupled to antennas. As will be discussed in greaterdetail below, coupling between transceivers 206 and 208 and the antennasmay be handled via RF circuit 240, which may be configured to switchcoupling between transceivers and antennas based on identified andselected antenna pairs.

System 200 further includes processing device 224 which may includelogic implemented using one or more processor cores. Accordingly,processing device 224 is includes one or more processing devices thatare configured to implement connection establishment, disconnection, andreestablishment operations as well as antenna selection operations thatwill be described in greater detail below. In various embodiments,processing device 224 includes one or more components configured toimplement a medium access control (MAC) layer that is configured tocontrol hardware associated with a wireless transmission medium, such asthat associated with a WiFi transmission medium. In one example,processing device 224 may include processor core block 210 that may beconfigured to implement a driver, such as a Bluetooth and/or WiFidriver. Processing device 224 may further include digital signalprocessor (DSP) core block 214 which may be configured to includemicrocode. Furthermore, processing device 224 may include additionalcore blocks, such as processor core block 211 and DSP core block 212,for additional transceivers. Accordingly, processor core block 211 andDSP core block 212 may be associated with transceiver 206, and processorcore block 210 and DSP core block 214 may be associated with transceiver208.

In various embodiments, processing device 224 is configured to selectantenna pairs and generate a control signal utilized by RF circuit 240to switch antenna coupling and implement an antenna pair selection. Asdiscussed above, RF circuit 240 is coupled to antennas of wirelesscommunications device 202, such as antenna 221, antenna 230, antenna232, and antenna 234. In various embodiments, RF circuit 240 may includevarious components such as an RF switch, a diplexer, and a filter.Accordingly, RF circuit 240 is configured to select one or more pairs ofantennas for transmission/reception, and is configured to providecoupling between the selected antenna, such as antenna 221, and othercomponents of system 200 based on a control signal received fromprocessing device 224.

System 200 includes memory system 209 which is configured to store oneor more data values associated with antenna selection operationsdiscussed in greater detail below. Accordingly, memory system 209includes storage device, which may be a non-volatile random accessmemory (NVRAM) configured to store such data values, and may alsoinclude a cache that is configured to provide a local cache. In variousembodiments, system 200 further includes host processor 213 which isconfigured to implement processing operations implemented by system 200.

It will be appreciated that one or more of the above-describedcomponents may be implemented on a single chip, or on different chips.For example, transceiver 206, transceiver 208, and processing device 224may be implemented on the same integrated circuit chip. In anotherexample, transceiver 206, transceiver 208, and processing device 224 mayeach be implemented on their own chip, and thus may be disposedseparately as a multi-chip module or on a common substrate such as aprinted circuit board (PCB). It will also be appreciated that componentsof system 200 may be implemented in the context of a low energy device,a smart device, or a vehicle such as an automobile. Accordingly, somecomponents, such as processing device 224, may be implemented in a firstlocation, while other components, such as antenna 221, may beimplemented in second location, and coupling between the two may beimplemented via a coupler such as an RF coupler.

FIG. 3 illustrates a diagram of another example of a system forenhancement of range and throughput of wireless communications devices,configured in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIG.3 illustrates an example of a system, such as system 300, that mayinclude wireless communications device 303. As similarly discussedabove, it will be appreciated that wireless communications device 303may be one of any of first devices 110, second devices 120, thirddevices 124, fourth devices 126, fifth devices 128, or sixth devices 130discussed above. As will be discussed in greater detail below, system300 provides an example of what may be referred to as a 2×2 device thatdoes not implement RSDB. Accordingly, embodiments disclosed hereinprovide enhanced range and throughput for both RSDB and non-RSDB capablewireless communications devices.

As similarly discussed above with reference to FIG. 2 , system 300 mayinclude host processor 323, memory system 308, bus 333, processingdevice 324, transceiver 306, RF circuit 302, antenna 321, antenna 332,and antenna 334. Moreover, processing device 324 may include processorcore block 311 and DSP core block 312. As shown in FIG. 3 , RF circuit302 is configured to handle switching between different antennas, suchas antenna 332 and 334 to implement different antenna pairings fortransceiver 306, and each of RF 350 and RF 352. In this way, anappropriate antenna pair may be selected and used for RF 350, and anappropriate antenna pair may be selected and used for RF 352. Assimilarly discussed above, processing device 324 is configured to selectantenna pairs and generate a control signal used to control theoperation of RF circuit 302.

FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of yet another example of a system forenhancement of range and throughput of wireless communications devices,configured in accordance with some embodiments. More specifically, FIG.4 illustrates an example of a system, such as system 400, that mayinclude wireless communications device 404. As similarly discussedabove, it will be appreciated that wireless communications device 404may be one of any of first devices 110, second devices 120, thirddevices 124, fourth devices 126, fifth devices 128, or sixth devices 130discussed above. As will be discussed in greater detail below, system400 provides an example of what may be referred to as a 3×3 device.Accordingly, embodiments disclosed herein provide enhanced range andthroughput for wireless communications devices that utilize a variety ofdifferent configurations to implement multiple data streams, such as 3×3or 4×4.

As similarly discussed above, system 400 may include host processor 423,memory system 408, bus 444, processing device 424, transceiver 406, RFcircuit 403, antenna 431, antenna 432, antenna 433, and antenna 434.Moreover, processing device 424 may include processor core block 411 andDSP core block 413. As shown in FIG. 4 , RF circuit 403 is configured tohandle switching between different antennas, such as antenna 432,antenna 433, and antenna 434 to implement different antenna pairings fortransceiver 406, and each of RF 450, RF 453, and RF 454. In this way, anappropriate antenna pair may be selected and used for RF 450, anappropriate antenna pair may be selected and used for RF 453, and anappropriate antenna pair may be selected and used for RF 454. Assimilarly discussed above, processing device 424 is configured to selectantenna pairs and generate a control signal used to control theoperation of RF circuit 403.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diagram of an example of a portion of a radiofrequency (RF) chain of a wireless communications device, configured inaccordance with some embodiments. As similarly discussed above, awireless communications device, such as wireless communications device500, includes an RF chain, such as RF 502, which may include varioushardware that handles transmission and reception of data. Accordingly,RF 502 may include a receive path that includes components utilized toreceive a signal. Moreover, RF 502 may include a transmit path thatincludes components utilized to transmit a signal. As also discussedabove, the receive path and transmit path may each be coupled to an RFcircuit. While not shown in FIG. 5 , the RF circuit may handle couplingbetween the transmit and receive paths and antennas, such as antenna 518and antenna 520.

As noted above, RF 502 includes a transmit path that is used by atransceiver to transmit data. The transmit path includes digital toanalog converter 504, mixer 514, and power amplifier 516. RF 502 furtherincludes a receive path that is used by the transceiver to receive data.The receive path includes, among other components, low noise amplifier524, mixer 526, analog to digital converter 532, and fast Fouriertransform (FFT) processor 536. In some embodiments, RF 502 also includeslocal oscillator 528 coupled to mixer 514 and mixer 526. Additionalcomponents, such as modulators and demodulators, are not shown forclarity.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of an example of an antenna pairingmethod, implemented in accordance with some embodiments. As discussedabove, wireless communications devices may communicate with each othervia various wireless connections and utilizing multiple antennas. Aswill be discussed in greater detail below, wireless communicationsdevices are configured to identify and select the best available antennapairs for use during the transmission and reception of multiple datastreams as may occur in a MIMO device. Accordingly, a method, such asmethod 600, may be implemented to enable the selection and utilizationof antennas for both transmission and reception such that the range andthroughput of the devices is enhanced.

Accordingly, method 600 may commence with operation 602 during which itmay be determined that an antenna pair should be selected for a wirelesscommunications device. In various embodiments, such a determination maybe made based on one or more communications events. For example, such adetermination may be made in response to a component of a wirelesscommunications device indicating that a data packet should be sent orreceived. Accordingly, the determination that an antenna pair should beselected may be made responsive to a notification that a data packet isto be transmitted or received. In some embodiments, the determinationmay be made based on one or more temporal parameters. For example,antenna selection may be implemented periodically based on a passage ofa designated amount of time.

Method 600 may proceed to operation 604 during which a plurality ofcombinations of antennas may be identified based on available antennasof the wireless communications device. The antennas may include knownantennas at the wireless communications device as well as known antennasat the device the wireless communications device is communicating with.Accordingly, a wireless communications device may identify eachavailable antenna based on available hardware data, and each antenna maybe identified using a unique identifier. During operation 604, eachpossible combination of antennas between transmitting and receivingdevices may be identified and stored as antenna combinations.

Method 600 may proceed to operation 606 during which at least onequality metric may be generated for each of the identified combinationsof antennas. As will be discussed in greater detail below, the qualitymetric may represent a quality of a communications link between antennasin a particular antenna combination. For example, the quality metric mayquantify a signal strength for that antenna combination. In someembodiments, signals sent from a transmitting device may be used tofacilitate such measurements. Moreover, as similarly discussed above,the transmitting device may be a dual band device that has a first andsecond signal source transmitting at a first band and a second band.Accordingly, quality metrics may be computed at each band. In this way,the appropriate quality metrics may be generated for each combination ofantennas, or may be retrieved form memory if such quality metrics werepreviously generated and are already available.

Method 600 may proceed to operation 608 during which a pair of antennasmay be selected based, at least in part, on the at least one qualitymetric. Accordingly, the identified antenna combinations may be sortedand/or filtered based on their associated quality metrics, and aparticular pair may be selected based on its associated quality metric.For example, a pair with a highest quality metric may be selected. Theselected pair of antennas may be used by the wireless communicationsdevice for transmission or reception of data. For example, an antennapair may be a pair of receive antennas specific to a wirelesscommunications device that is receiving data streams.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of another example of an antenna pairingmethod, implemented in accordance with some embodiments. As discussedabove, wireless communications devices may be configured to identify andselect the best available antenna pairs for use during the transmissionand reception of multiple data streams as may occur in a MIMO device. Aswill be discussed in greater detail below, transmission and receptioncharacteristics of the antennas may be utilized to identify andimplement such selections.

Accordingly, method 700 may commence with operation 702 during which itmay be determined if a number of available antennas is greater than 2.Such a determination may be made based on available hardware data. Assimilarly discussed above, a component, such as a processing device, mayhave access to available hardware data that includes information aboutthe wireless communications device in which the processing device isimplemented, as well as hardware information about devices incommunication with the wireless communications device. Such informationmay have been received during a configuration operation, or during theestablishment of a communications link. If it is determined that thenumber of available antennas is less than 2, method 700 may terminate.If it is determined that the number of available antennas is greaterthan 2, method 700 may proceed to operation 704.

Accordingly, during operation 704 during it may be determined if anumber of data streams is greater than one. Such a determination may bemade by a processing device of a wireless communications device, and maybe made based on a transmission/reception modality that has beenselected. For example, if the device has been configured as a MIMOdevice, data may be spatially multiplexed into multiple data streams bythe processing device. Accordingly, the processing device may know ifmultiple data streams are present, and how many data streams are beingutilized. If it is determined that the number of data streams is notgreater than one, method 700 may terminate. In such a situation, antennapair selection is not implemented, and an ordinary transmissiontechnique may be utilized. If it is determined that the number of datastreams is greater than one, method 700 may proceed to operation 706.

During operation 706, quality metrics may be generated for each of aplurality of antennas. As disclosed herein antenna combinations may alsobe described in reference to channels or transmitter-receiver links (T-Rlinks). In one specific example, a 2×2 device may be configured as astation, and may have four receive antennas in communication with twotransmit antennas of an access point. In this example, there may be apossible eight different channels utilizing different combinations oftwo transmit antennas and the 4 receive antennas. Accordingly, assimilarly discussed above, the possible different combinations ofantennas corresponding to the channels may be computed and identified,and during operation 706, one or more quality metrics may be generatedfor each antenna combination. As used herein, an antenna combination mayrefer to a combination of a transmit antenna in a transmit device and areceive antenna in a receiving device.

As similarly discussed above, the quality metric may represent a qualityof a communications link between antennas in a particular antennacombination. In one example, the quality metric may quantify a signalstrength for that antenna combination, or some other aspect, such as asignal-to-noise (SNR) ratio or any suitable interference quantifier. Ina specific example, the quality metric may be a metric such as an RSSIvalue, an adjacent channel interference (ACI) value, or a co-channelinterference (CCI) value. In various embodiments, the generation of theRSSI value may be implemented by a processor of the wirelesscommunications device, and may be performed periodically or as part ofthe antenna pair selection method. Furthermore, the ACI value and CCIvalues may be generated by the processor in a similar manner.

In some embodiments, the quality metric is an exponential effective SNRmapping (EESM) metric that is computed based on the signal strength ofeach sub-carrier of a particular channel, and weighting of the SNR ofeach sub-carrier in an exponential way. In various embodiments, asub-carrier band is a portion of a frequency band or channel used by awireless communications device. Accordingly, a particular frequency bandmay be divided into multiple sub-carriers. For example, a particularfrequency band may be divided into sub-carrier bands of a few hundredkilohertz each (e.g. 300 kHz). As similarly discussed above, in MIMOdevices, the transmission of data may be multiplexed across thesub-carriers, e.g., by using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM). According to some embodiments, the EESM metric may be computedbased on data sent and received on the sub-carriers. In one example, aprocessing device may be used to compute an indication of signalstrength and an indication of an SNR for each sub-carrier, and togenerate an EESM metric based on the computed signal strengths and SNRsby mapping the computed SNRs to a single effective SNR. Such mapping maybe implemented via any suitable statistical technique, such as anexponentially bounded probability distribution.

The quality metric may also be a metric inferred from computations usedto implement aspects of multi-data stream communications modalities. Asdiscussed above, in MIMO modalities, data may be spatially multiplexedinto multiple data streams that are transmitted and then receivedsimultaneously and then processed to recover the data. As discussedabove, components of the wireless communications devices, such asprocessing devices and physical layers implemented within processingdevices, are configured to identify the presence of and quantifyinterference, and are also configured to implement decompositionoperations to recover the data from the multiple data streams. As partof the process of such spatial multiplexing, the processing devicecomputes a channel matrix for the different channels. Such computationsmay be implemented by a base filtering engine included in the processingdevice.

In various embodiments, the channel matrix can be used to infer theeigenvalues for a particular channel, and the eigenvalues can be used toassess the quality of the channel. More specifically, the eigenvaluesmay be used to identify a condition number which may be a number thatrepresents how much an output may change for a small change in an input.Thus, the condition number may be a measure of a channel's sensitivityto errors. Furthermore, a matrix having a low condition number may besaid to be well-conditioned, while a matrix with a high condition numbermay be said to be poorly conditioned. Accordingly, in instances wherethe computed channel matrix has a value of the condition number close toone, a particular antenna combination may be a well-conditioned MIMOchannel suitable for spatial multiplexing. In instances where thecondition number is not close to one, and is much higher, the antennacombination results in an ill-conditioned MIMO channel. Thus, accordingto various embodiments, the condition number may be computed via aneigenvalue decomposition, and stored as a quality metric.

In various embodiments, the condition number may vary acrossfrequencies. Accordingly, a frequency sweep may be implemented tomeasure the condition number across multiple frequencies, and astatistical measure of variance may be computed and used as the qualitymetric. For example, the quality metric may be a standard deviation ofthe condition numbers computed at different frequencies.

Accordingly, during operation 706, a system component, such as aprocessing device, may query a storage location to determine if qualitymetrics are available. If available, the quality metrics may beretrieved. If not available, the quality metrics may be generated.Accordingly, during operation 706, the processing device may implementone or more operations to generate the appropriate quality metrics. Forexample, the processing device may initiate the testing and recording ofan RSSI value for each identified antenna combination. Furthermore,multiple quality metrics may be retrieved and or generated for eachidentified antenna combination. In this way, multiple quality metricsmay be made available for each identified antenna combination.

Method 700 may proceed to operation 708 during which a currentlyselected pair of antennas may be identified. In various embodiments, thecurrently selected pair of antennas is a pair that may have beenpreviously identified and stored for a particular transceiver and/ordata stream. For example, if during a transceiver's previoustransmitting or receiving operation a particular pair of receiveantennas may have been used to receive two data streams. Accordingly,identifiers identifying that pair of antennas may have been stored inmemory and may represent the currently selected pair. If no suchidentifiers are stored in memory, a default value or selection may beutilized, such as the first available antennas.

Method 700 may proceed to operation 710 during which it may bedetermined if the correct pair of antennas is selected. In variousembodiments, the correct pair refers to a pair of antennas that may besthandle receiving/transmitting of multiple data streams. For example, fortwo data streams, two antenna combinations with the best matchingquality metric may be identified, and at least a portion of the antennaidentifier information may be stored as a correct antenna pair.Moreover, various modalities may be implemented to determine if qualitymetrics are matching. In one example, the identified antennacombinations may have been sorted and/or filtered based on theirassociated quality metrics. More specifically, the identified antennacombinations may be sorted in descending order of RSSI value, and thetwo antenna combinations having the closest RSSI values may beidentified as the best or correct pair. In the specific instance of thereceiving device, the two receive antennas in those two antennacombinations may be identified and stored as an antenna pair.

In another example, as similarly discussed above with reference to RSSIvalues, antenna combinations having the similar ACI values or similarCCI values may be used to identify the best or correct pair of antennas.In yet another example, antenna combinations with the best conditionnumbers may be used to identify the best or correct pair of antennas. Inthis way, a pair of antennas having quality metrics best suited formulti-data stream communication may be identified as the correct pair ofantennas, and may be compared against the currently selected pair ofantennas. Such a comparison may be implemented based on a comparison ofantenna identifiers. If it is determined that the correct pair ofantennas is selected, method 700 may terminate. If it is determined thatthe correct pair of antennas is not selected, method 700 may proceed tooperation 712.

During operation 712, a correct pair of antennas may be identified andselected. Once selected, method 700 may return to operation 710.Accordingly, during operation 712, the correct pair of antennas may beselected by updating a storage location in memory to identify thecorrect pair of antennas and also generate a control signal to controlthe operation of an RF circuit, as discussed above, to implement theappropriate coupling for the new antenna pairing. Accordingly, the RFcircuit may update coupling between a transceiver and an antenna toselect the best antenna.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of an example of a quality metricgeneration method, implemented in accordance with some embodiments. Asdiscussed above, wireless communications devices may be configured toidentify and select the best available antenna pairs for use withmulti-data stream communications modalities, such as those used by MIMOdevices. As will be discussed in greater detail below, multipledifferent quality metrics may be generated and utilized, as well ascombinations of different quality metrics, to enable the identificationand implementation of such antenna pair selections.

Accordingly, method 800 may commence with operation 802 during which aplurality of antenna combinations is identified based on availableantennas of a wireless communications device. As similarly discussedabove, a component, such as a processing device, may have access toavailable hardware data that includes information about the wirelesscommunications device in which the processing device is implemented, aswell as hardware information about devices in communication with thewireless communications device. Accordingly, during operation 802, asystem component, such as a processing device, may identify all of theavailable antennas as well as possible antenna combinations. As alsonoted above, the antenna combinations may be stored in a data objectthat identifies the pairs using a pair identifier as well as antennaidentifiers for each antenna included in the pair.

Method 800 may proceed to operation 804 during which a quality metric tobe generated is identified for each of the plurality of antennacombinations. Accordingly, a system component, such as a processingdevice, may identify a quality metric to be generated based on a firstconfiguration parameter that may be stored in memory. As noted above,for each antenna combination, at least one quality metric may begenerated. To determine which quality metric should be generated, theprocessing device may query the storage location and identify a qualitymetric based on the value of the first configuration parameter. Invarious embodiments, the first configuration parameter may have been setby an administrator during a configuration operation. In someembodiments, the first configuration parameter may be set to a defaultvalue.

Method 800 may proceed to operation 806 during which the quality metricis generated for each of the plurality of antenna combinations.Accordingly, the processing device may proceed to generate theidentified quality metric for each of the identified antennacombinations, and the generated quality metric may be stored in memoryfor subsequent use during antenna selection, as discussed above.

Method 800 may proceed to operation 808 during which it may bedetermined if additional quality metrics should be generated. Asdiscussed above, multiple quality metrics may be generated for eachantenna combination. Accordingly, the first configuration parameter mayidentify several quality metrics to be generated. If it is determinedthat additional quality metrics should be generated, method 800 mayreturn to operation 804 and additional iterations of quality metricgeneration may be implemented for each additional identified qualitymetric. If it is determined that no additional quality metrics should begenerated, method 800 may proceed to operation 810.

Accordingly, during operation 810 it may be determined if a compositequality metric should be generated. Such a determination may be madebased on a value of a second configuration parameter. In variousembodiments, the second configuration parameter may identify one or morequality metrics to be combined into a composite metric. In this way, itmay be determined that a single metric should be generated that iscapable of representing an overall quality of an identified antennacombination. As similarly discussed above, the second configurationparameter may be defined by an administrator or may be a default value.If it is determined that a composite quality metric should not begenerated, method 800 may terminate. If it is determined that acomposite quality metric should be generated, method 800 may proceed tooperation 812.

During operation 812, a composite quality metric may be generated basedon a combination of quality metrics. In various embodiments, one or morecombination operations may be implemented on the generated qualitymetrics to combine them into a single metric capable of representing anoverall quality of an identified antenna combination. For example, acombination of both RSSI and interference metrics may be used. Such acombination may be implemented using a combined ranking technique.Moreover, one of the metrics may be weighted more heavily in thegeneration of the composite metric. In this way, any suitablecombination of quality metrics may be used to identify a correct pair ofantennas.

Although the foregoing concepts have been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certainchanges and modifications may be practiced within the scope of theappended claims. It should be noted that there are many alternative waysof implementing the processes, systems, and devices. Accordingly, thepresent examples are to be considered as illustrative and notrestrictive.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method comprising: identifying a plurality ofcombinations of antennas based on a plurality of available antennas fora wireless communications device; generating, using a processing deviceincluded in a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) device, a pluralityof quality metrics comprising at least one quality metric for each ofthe identified combinations of antennas, wherein each of the at leastone quality metrics represents a signal quality of a signal included ina multiplexed spatial stream; and selecting, using the processingdevice, at least two antennas from the plurality of combinations ofantennas that have the closest values of quality metrics to each other,wherein the plurality of combinations of antennas comprises antennasassociated with different streams included in the multiplexed spatialstream.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the different streams aretransmitted in parallel via spatial multiplexing.
 23. The method ofclaim 22, wherein the selected at least two antennas are associated withdifferent streams.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality ofquality metrics comprises a measurement of signal strength from signalsreceived using the plurality of available antennas.
 25. The method ofclaim 24, wherein the signals are received from at least a first signalsource and a second signal source, and wherein the first signal sourceuses a first band supported by a real simultaneous dual band (RSDB)capable wireless local area network (WLAN) processing device, andwherein the second signal source uses a second band supported by theRSDB-capable WLAN processing device.
 26. The method of claim 21, whereinthe plurality of quality metrics comprises an indication of adjacentchannel interferences or co-channel interference.
 27. The method ofclaim 21, wherein the plurality of quality metrics comprises one or morecondition numbers computed based on eigenvalues associated with theplurality of combinations of antennas.
 28. The method of claim 21,wherein the plurality of quality metrics comprises quality metrics foreach of the identified combinations of antennas, and wherein the methodfurther comprises: generating a composite quality metric for each of theidentified combinations of antennas based, at least in part, on theplurality of quality metrics.
 29. The method of claim 21, wherein theplurality of quality metrics comprises an indication of asignal-to-noise ratio (SNR) metric, and wherein the indication of theSNR metric is an exponential effective SNR mapping (EESM) metric.
 30. Adevice comprising: at least one transceiver; a processing deviceconfigured to: identify a plurality of combinations of antennas based ona plurality of available antennas for a wireless communications device;generate a plurality of quality metrics comprising at least one qualitymetric for each of the identified combinations of antennas, wherein eachof the at least one quality metrics represents a signal quality of asignal included in a multiplexed spatial stream; and select at least twoantennas from the plurality of combinations of antennas that have theclosest values of quality metrics to each other, wherein the pluralityof combinations of antennas comprises antennas associated with differentstreams included in the multiplexed spatial stream, wherein the at leastone transceiver and the processing device are included in a MIMO device.31. The device of claim 30, wherein the different streams aretransmitted in parallel via spatial multiplexing.
 32. The device ofclaim 31, wherein the selected at least two antennas are associated withdifferent streams.
 33. The device of claim 30, wherein the plurality ofquality metrics comprises a measurement of signal strength from signalsreceived using each of the plurality of available antennas, wherein thesignals are received from at least a first signal source and a secondsignal source, wherein the first signal source uses a first bandsupported by an RSDB-capable WLAN processing device, and wherein thesecond signal source uses a second band supported by the RSDB-capableWLAN processing device.
 34. The device of claim 30, wherein theplurality of quality metrics comprises an indication of adjacent channelinterferences or co-channel interference.
 35. The device of claim 30,wherein the plurality of quality metrics comprises one or more conditionnumbers computed based on eigenvalues associated with the plurality ofcombinations of antennas.
 36. A system comprising: a plurality ofantennas; a first transceiver coupled to the plurality of antennas; asecond transceiver coupled to the plurality of antennas; and aprocessing device configured to: identify a plurality of combinations ofantennas based on a plurality of available antennas for a wirelesscommunications device; generate a plurality of quality metricscomprising at least one quality metric for each of the identifiedcombinations of antennas, wherein each of the at least one qualitymetrics represents a signal quality of a signal included in amultiplexed spatial stream; and select at least two antennas from theplurality of combinations of antennas that have the closest values ofquality metrics to each other, wherein the plurality of combinations ofantennas comprises antennas associated with different streams includedin the multiplexed spatial stream.
 37. The system of claim 36, whereinthe different streams are transmitted in parallel via spatialmultiplexing.
 38. The system of claim 37, wherein the selected at leasttwo antennas are associated with different streams.
 39. The system ofclaim 36, wherein the plurality of quality metrics comprises ameasurement of signal strength from signals received using each of theplurality of available antennas, wherein the plurality of qualitymetrics comprises an indication of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) metric,and wherein the SNR metric comprises an EESM metric.
 40. The system ofclaim 36, wherein the plurality of quality metrics comprises anindication of adjacent channel interferences or co-channel interference.